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Saturday, 26 October 2013

Quarter Square Triangles Tutorial - Made with Oakshott

Here is a quarter square triangles tutorial combined with a Made with Oakshott project. The tutorial will show you how to make a 24" x 78" bed runner which I have made with a selection of Oakshott F8s. In my bed runner, the aquas and teals have come from Impressions, Water and Lakes F8 packs and the Liparis were all from a Lipari FQ pack.

HOW TO MAKE THIS OAKSHOTT QUARTER SQUARE TRIANGLE BED RUNNER

To make this table runner, you need

52 7" squares. You can cut 3 squares from a F8 or 9 squares from a FQ so you will need 18 F8s or 6 FQs or this could be made from stash scraps;

2 1/4 yds or metres backing fabric;

1/2 yd or metre binding fabric; and

wadding 28" x 82".

1. Pair the squares right sides together (I paired them all randomly but light with dark). Mark a diagonal line on the back of the light squares using a pencil, Frixion pen or other marker. Sew lines 1/4" away from the marked diagonal line.

2. Cut the squares in half along the marked diagonal using a rotary cutter.

3. Press the HST (half square triangle unit) open and press seams towards the darker fabrics. Then mark diagonal lines on the back of half the HSTs.

4. Randomly pair them with each other, right sides together and so that the dark triangle sits next to the light triangle on each side. Mark a diagonal line on the back of one of each of the

5. Once again sew lines 1/4" each side of the marked diagonal line and cut in half along the diagonal line with a rotary cutter, press open and press seams open or to one side as desired.

6. Press seams open or to one side as preferred then trim each QST (quarter square triangle) unit to 6 1/2" square. You can do this following the lines on your ruler but I find it easier to make a freezer paper template as you can align the four corners of the template with the diagonal seams on the block. Draw a 6" square on a piece of freezer paper and cut the square out to 6 1/2" by adding a 1/4" seam allowance all round. Press this onto each QST making sure to align the corners of the square with the diagonal seams on the unit. Then trim by aligning the 1/4" line on your ruler with the edges of the drawn 6" square. Doing it this way, you avoid the problem of trimming the paper template a fraction each time you trim the block.

7. Make and trim 52 QST units with the fabrics randomly placed in all of them. Lay them out in four rows of thirteen QST units on the design wall, table or floor and move them around until you find a layout which you like.

8. Sew into rows and press the seams in alternate directions in each seam so that they nest when you sew the rows together.

This is the third time today I've looked back at this post! The colors are stunning, yet I doubt I would have ever thought to use that combo. Sure hope it is teaching me a good lesson in color selection!